Cameron threatened to ‘close down’ BBC, says editor

London, 22 June (IANS) BBC’s political editor has claimed that Prime Minister David Cameron while campaigning for the May 7 general elections had threatened to “close down” the organisation.

Cameron’s Conservative Party’s war with BBC went up a notch when the premier made the incendiary comments to journalists while travelling on his “battle bus” ahead of the general elections, in which his party won a majority seat in the House of Commons, the Telegraph reported on Monday.

BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson said he was unsure whether the prime minister was making a “joke or a threat” – but claimed it was seen as “yet another bit of pressure” by BBC employees.

The editor said that while travelling on the bus, Cameron “rubbished” a BBC story where the news organisation had claimed the prime minister telling former Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg that the Conservatives would not win a majority, adding, “I’m going to close them (BBC) down after the election.”

“What really matters is the impact it has on other people. Some people on the bus regarded it funny but they generally did not work for the BBC,” Robinson told The Guardian.

“The people who did [work for BBC] regarded it as yet another bit of pressure and a sort of sense of ‘do not forget who is the boss here’.”

Senior Conservative figures had earlier accused BBC of being biased in its election coverage.